North Korean escapee reveals what happens to citizens if they buy a TV
A North Korean escapee has revealed the difficulties citizens go through in order to purchase consumer goods such as TVs.
Ruled over by the Kim dynasty since 1948 - current leader Kim Jong-un is the third person to lead the family - North Korea is pretty much shut off from the outside world and their citizens' every move tightly moulded by the state.
Information about life for the average North Korean citizen is particularly hard to come by, unless you're willing to count tourist trips on tightly regulated holidays to show villages.
Which is why accounts from people who've successfully been able to flee the regime are crucial to understanding life inside North Korea.
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It's estimated that at least 30,000 North Korean citizens have escaped the country since the 1950s, with successful defectors settling anywhere from Seoul to China, Europe and America.
One such escapee is Timothy Cho, a two-time defector turned human rights activist, who survived being tortured by authorities after a failed attempt to flee the country before finally setting in the UK.
Cho recently spoke to LADbible about how something as simple as owning a television can be particularly difficult in North Korea.
The thought of the government intervening while we're buying a TV seems a pretty alien concept to most of us. We simply spend an hour or so of our day comparing different brands before measuring up the size, pressing order and then waiting for the electronic device to be delivered.
Watch LADbible's interview with Timothy Cho below:
Whereas for a North Korean citizen, buying a TV comes with a complimentary visit from a government official who makes sure that you're not able to access any of those pesky non-state broadcasts.
"If you buy a TV in North Korea, the government come to your house and take all antennas out and leave only one antenna," Cho said after being asked about censorship in the country.
"What is it about? Kim family... programmes, documentaries, songs. All 24/7," he added.
"If you watch TV... it's all about Kim family propaganda."
Restrictions on how you watch TV isn't the only unusual regulation which more Korean citizens face either, with Cho also revealing that even something as innocent as a haircut has become political.
Explaining that children as young as school age are expected to have their hair cut in either 'one or two or three' different regulation hairstyles, with anyone sporting a hairstyle even a couple of centimetres longer than allowed finding themselves in trouble.
"If you have something different… then your parents are in trouble. They’re being summoned [to] come to the police station and write a statement," he explained.
Topics: World News, Kim Jong-un
Brenna Cooper